1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heating and cooling system for a vehicle seat, and more particularly, to one which uses a thermoelectric element as a means for heating and cooling air to be supplied to the seat, and can maintain comfortable environment inside a vehicle by efficiently discharging condensed water, which forms when air is cooled.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a vehicle is equipped with an air-conditioning system including a cooler and a heater. The air-conditioning system serves to control the temperature inside the vehicle.
However, the air-conditioning system does not have a function of controlling the temperature of a vehicle seat. In the summer, even if an occupant sitting on a vehicle seat lowers the temperature inside the vehicle by operating the cooler, the seat is relatively slowly cooled down. In addition, the seat is continuously warmed by the body heat of the occupant. Then, the occupant may sweat at the buttocks and the back, which would otherwise develop into heat rashes.
In the winter, even if the occupant sitting on the vehicle seat raises the temperature inside the vehicle by operating the heater, the occupant may feel chilly or cold at the buttocks or back since the seat has stayed cold for a long time before the heater is operated.
Accordingly, these days, a seat-dedicated heating and cooling system is additionally provided, which is designed to control the temperature of the seat.
An example of such a heating and cooling system for a vehicle seat will be illustrated with reference to FIG. 1.
The heating and cooling system for a vehicle seat is mounted on the lower part of a vehicle seat composed of a back and a sitting part. The heating and cooling system includes a first duct 2 communicating with the back, a second duct 4 communicating with the sitting part, and a blower 1 blowing air into the ducts 2 and 4. Thermoelectric element housings 3 and 5 are coupled to the front ends of the ducts 2 and 4, respectively, and thermoelectric element units (not shown) are mounted inside the thermoelectric element housings 3 and 5, respectively.
The thermoelectric element housing 3 has two air outlets 3a and 3b. The air outlet 3a serves to supply air, heated or cooled by the thermoelectric element unit, to the seat, and the air outlet 3b serves to exhaust air from the vehicle. The thermoelectric element housing 5 also has two air outlets 5a and 3b, which function substantially the same as those of the thermoelectric element housing 3. When a thermoelectric element is used for heating air to be supplied to the seat, air is heated at one side of the thermoelectric element but is cooled at the other side of the thermoelectric element. Thus, it is required to exhaust cooled air from the vehicle. For this purpose, the thermoelectric element housing is provided with both the air outlet 3a or 5a for supplying air to the seat and the outlet 3b for exhausting air from the vehicle. In addition, the outlet 3b is connected to an exhaust duct 6, which leads to the outside of the vehicle.
When air introduced by the blower 1 is flowing around a cooler of the thermoelectric element assembly, condensed water forms inside the duct if the temperature of the air drops below the dew point. However, once the condensed water is formed inside the duct, it collects inside the duct since the heating and cooling system for a vehicle seat of the related art does not provide a means for discharging the condensed water from the vehicle. The condensed water collected as above may leak into the interior of the vehicle, through joints 7 between the blower 1 and the ducts 2 and 4 and through a joint 8 between the thermoelectric housing 5 and the duct 6. When the condensed water leaks into the interior of the vehicle, it contaminates the interior of the vehicle by causing bacterial contamination and bad smells as well as threatens the health of occupants.
In addition, since the heating and cooling system as described above is configured to heat or cool air using only the thermoelectric element, the efficiency of heating and cooling the seat is disadvantageously low.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.